Notable comments by AG Holder about incarceration in speech to National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives

For those like me concerned about the economic costs and potenital criminogenic consequences of mass incarceration, another speech delivered today from Attorney General Eric Holder suggests that his Department of Justice understands the problems with using incarceration to address all crime issues.  Specifically, in this speech given to a law enforcement group, AG Holder had this to say about incarceration:

I know there are two specific problems many of you are struggling to tackle, and I’d like to address them. First, the growing number of Americans – and disproportionate number of African Americans – currently incarcerated in prisons across our country. Second, the division and tension that sometimes exists between law enforcement officers and the communities they work to protect.

As you all know, our nation now has the world’s highest incarceration rate. In the last 40 years, the number of inmates in American prisons has increased seven-fold. Today, one out of every 100 adults in America is behind bars.

Most of these prisoners are poor and uneducated.  Twenty percent of them are Hispanic. Forty percent are black. In too many black families and neighborhoods, a “cradle-to-prison” life path has become the norm for young men. African Americans are now eight times more likely to be incarcerated as whites. And, if current trends continue, nearly 1 in 3 of our young black men will spend time behind bars.

Let me be clear, we enhance public safety by incarcerating those who harm our neighbors and our communities. This is a fact. But in our work to protect the American people, incarceration cannot be our only law enforcement strategy. We’ve learned that simply building more prisons and jails will not solve all our problems.

It’s time to face facts about our current approach to incarceration. It’s not sustainable. It’s not affordable. And we’ve seen that it isn’t always as effective as we think in reducing crime and keeping Americans safe.

Over the last few decades, state spending on corrections has risen faster than nearly any other budget item. Yet our best research suggests that there are other, more effective ways to invest taxpayer dollars and ensure public safety.

At a cost of $60 billion a year, our prisons and jails do very little to prepare prisoners to get jobs and “go straight” after they're released.  Former offenders are often barred from housing, shunned by potential employers, and surrounded by other ex-offenders in their neighborhoods. This is a recipe for high recidivism. And it’s the reason that two-thirds of those released are rearrested within three years.

It’s time for a new approach.  If we are going to achieve positive outcomes for public safety, for state and local government budgets, for our communities, and for people who have been incarcerated and their families, we must begin to acknowledge that easy short-term solutions sometimes cause long-term negative consequences.

The truth is that any real effort to contain spending on corrections, while ensuring public safety, must include a strong focus on preparing for reentry so we can reduce recidivism. Effective reentry programs can transform lives. They can ease difficult transitions. And they can provide our best chance for safeguarding our neighborhoods and supporting offenders who have served their time and who are also resolved to improve their lives.

I’m proud that, last year, the Justice Department distributed $28 million in reentry awards under the Second Chance Act. And I’m pleased to tell you that we will have another $100 million available for reentry programs this year. But we must complement reentry programs with smart and sound policy changes at every level of government.

At the federal level, I have established a Sentencing and Corrections Working Group to take a fresh look at federal sentencing practices and determine how we can better prepare federal prisoners to transition back into their communities. Likewise, we must analyze the distinct crime trends and corrections policies of our states and counties by focusing on the neighborhoods where large numbers of offenders return. This will allow us to provide state and local officials with targeted, data-driven options for improving public safety and reducing spending.

I am pleased to see that AG Holder is continuing to talk a good game about the fact that there are alternative is incarceration that can provide "more effective ways to invest taxpayer dollars and ensure public safety."  But I continue to hope that al this good talk soon turns into some more tangible action in the form of more aggressive advocacy from the Department of Justice for the braider use of alternatives to incarceration at the state and federal level for all non-violent types of offenses.